Transcript CAUSES and EFFECTS

CAUSES
and
EFFECTS
Part 1:
THE RHETORICAL STRATEGY
BACKGROUND
BACKGROUND:
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To reinforce the complexity & non-linearity
o Of Causality & Consequence
o
To rectify certain misconceptions
o concerning Causality & Consequence
BACKGROUND
NO OVERSIMPLIFICATION:
o a cause often has more than 1 effect
o an effect often has more than 1 cause
o causes can be effects from other causes
o effects can become causes of other effects
o Thus, causes & effects = plural
o Thus, their relationship = complex, non-linear
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o Thus, the pictures of the spider webs
BACKGROUND
NO OVERSIMPLIFICATION:
o Life is too complex, too complicated
o For events to have but 1 cause, 1 effect
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such singularity, simplicity is quite rare
o Thus, it would be an oversimplification to
claim that a situation had but a single cause
leading up to it and single effect flowing
away from it
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BACKGROUND
NO VACUUM:
o Further, no event happens in a vacuum
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unrelated or unconnected to any other situation
past and present
o Hence, causes and effects have a certain
interconnectedness (like a web!)
o Ask yourself:
o
o
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Where did those causes come from?
o causes as effects of other causes
Where do those effects go?
o Effects as causes of other effects
WEB
BACKGROUND
NO VACUUM:
CAUSE
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EVENT
EFFECT
BACKGROUND
NO COUPLES:
o Also, causes & effects do not pair up like
animals marching to Noah’s Ark
o Causes & Effects have no 1:1 ratio
o A cause does not have a corresponding
effect
o
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a “soul mate,” partner, companion, spouse
As a matter of fact, the idea of
correspondence is doubtful itself
o Hence, in an essay, you wouldn’t discuss in
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a single paragraph a cause-effect pair
BACKGROUND
NO LINEARITY:
o Nor do Causes & Effects regularly queue up
to form a neat chronological line
o
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this happened  which led to this  which
led to this  …
What some call “causal chains”
o Oftentimes, unrelated or independent causes
coalesce to create a series of effects
o
Think “a perfect storm”
o
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3 separate storm systems converged to create
one monster storm, which had disastrous
consequences
BACKGROUND
DEFINITIONS:
CAUSES
• “Why did this happen?”
EFFECTS
• “What happened as a result
of this?”
•Precede the event, condition, • Follow the event
behavior
• Consequences, results,
• Precipitating factors, roots,
outcomes
• Motives, antecedents, bases, • Effects can become the
origins, sources, derivations
causes of other events,
conditions
• Positive and/or Negative
• Positive and/or Negative
 More than one cause to an  More than one effect to an
event, condition, behavior
event, condition, behavior
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BACKGROUND
EVENT:
Your car ran out of gas on the way home from school.
CAUSES
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• Poor time management
• Irresponsibility
• Lack of money
• Broken gas gauge
• Unfamiliarity with new
car
• Preoccupation with
your relationship
• Thinking about writing
your cause-effect essay
EFFECTS
• Long walk home
• Late for work
• Pulled a muscle
• Fell in a ditch
• Ruined your favorite
shoes
• Lost your (priceless)
school notes and
(overpriced) text books
BACKGROUND
TYPES of CAUSES:
o IMMEDIATE:
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closest (in the causal chain) to the event
o REMOTE:
o
in the past, back of the chain
 These are temporal in nature.
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BACKGROUND
TYPES of CAUSES:
o PRECIPITATING:
o
o
o
emerges as “last straw”
like “immediate”
but coexists in time with contributing
o CONTRIBUTING:
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background, leads up to event
like “remote”
but coexists with precipitating
BACKGROUND
TYPES of CAUSES:
o NECESSARY:
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has to be present for an effect to occur
o SUFFICIENT:
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always produces (guarantees) an effect
 These can both exist.
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BACKGROUND
PURPOSE:
o Questions answered =
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o
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What happened and why?
What is happening and why?
What will happen and why?
BACKGROUND
PURPOSE:
o By tracing causes  we can
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understand an event, condition, behavior
appreciate an (+) event, condition, behavior
replicate an (+) event, condition, behavior
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o
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assure that it happens again
prevent an (-) event from happening again
BACKGROUND
PURPOSE:
o By tracing effects  we can
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persuade people to care about an issue
convince them to take some action
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teach/learn a moral
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o
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o
to address the problem
life lesson
scientific truth
anthropological, sociological, psychological
principle
replicate an (+) event, prevent an (-) event
BACKGROUND
PURPOSE:
o C&E and Proposal Arguments:
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Before proposing a solution, look at causes.
Before attacking or supporting proposal, look
at effects.
Before making a decision, look at effects.
o C&E and Critical Thinking:
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o
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o
Forethought, foresight,
Prudence, precaution, planning
Consideration, conscientiousness
BACKGROUND
Logical Fallacies and Causality:
o Post hoc ergo propter hoc:
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Precedence confused with causality
Chronology
Just because A precedes B, does not
necessarily mean that A caused B.
BACKGROUND
Logical Fallacies and Causality:
o Hasty generalization:
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Too few cases considered
Too little consideration of other causes, of
alternative explanations (Occam’s Razor)
o Overgeneralization:
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“universal quantifier” = “all”
“existential quantifier” = “some”
OG = All of the blame falls on X.
BACKGROUND
Logical Fallacies and Causality:
o Oversimplification:
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Reducing a complex situation to a single
cause
o Fallacy of Oversimplified Cause:
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o
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Multiple causes
Number of factors
No single cause
THE END
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BACKGROUND
EXPLANATION:
CAUSE
• root
• source
• antecedent
• motive
• (prior to the event)
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EFFECT
• Consequence
• Outcome
• Result
• (after the event)
BACKGROUND
CAUSES:
EFFECTS:
• why something happened
• what happened
• precede the event, condition,
• follow the event
behavior
• consequences, results,
• precipitating factors
outcomes
• roots, origins, basis, derivations • “What happened as a result of
• “Why did this happen?”
this?”
• more than one cause to an
• effects can become the causes
event, condition
of other events, conditions
• positive and/or negative
• more than one effect to an
event, condition
• positive and/or negative
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BACKGROUND
EVENT:
Your car ran out of gas on the way home from school.
CAUSES
• poor time management
• irresponsibility
• lack of money
• broken gas gauge
• unfamiliarity with new car
• preoccupation with your
relationship
• thinking about writing
your cause-effect essay
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EFFECTS
• long walk home
• late for work
• pulled a muscle
• fell in a ditch
• ruined your favorite
shoes
• lost your school notes &
overpriced textbooks
BACKGROUND
CAUSAL CHAINS:
o follow the argument the author is making
o put causes and then the effects in a sequence:
 a chronological or logical order
o what led to what, to what, to what …
o this happened  which led to this  which led to this 
which led to this …
o *purpose: by creating a causal chain,



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you can better understand the author’s argument
you can better evaluate the author’s argument, logic,
reasoning
logical fallacies, breakdowns in logic become more evident